The need for good, clean work space in a kitchen is very high. There are a lot of health risks that come out of a kitchen. If you have ever been a member of a staff for a high volume kitchen, then you know that it is not a good idea to let untrained people join you in that kitchen. There are too many risks that exist. They may burn their own hands on a fryer. They may let their hair fall into a dish that they are preparing, and it may be eaten by a customer who will get sick. The best thing to do is to make sure that there is a solid restaurant food safety plan in place for any kitchen that you work in.
The same basic ideas that matter when you are cooking at home will matter for restaurant food safety. This includes making sure that you store sharp objects in safe places. It means taking the time to clean off a utensil that was used to prepare one dish before you use it again to make the next dish. It means keeping any of the ingredients that are known to have allergies away from the other items in your kitchen, such as cilantro or peanuts.
Once you have the basic restaurant food safety notions in mind, think about the next level. Most restaurant food safety is common sense. For example, do not use meat that is past its fresh date. Make sure that any oil that you use in a fryer is up to the proper heat before you fry any items in it. The oil also ought to be changed every now and again to assure that it is not stagnant and more residue from other food than actual oil.
If you have any special tools in your kitchen that get very hot or are used to quickly slice ingredients, make sure that they get as clean as they can between each use. Since they are meant to speed up the pace of your kitchen, it is easy to forget that they also collect more residue than other tools. The basic restaurant food safety rules that you follow should include cleaning these tools at the end of every shift, at the very least.
To assure that restaurant food safety is on the mind of every worker in that kitchen, find a restaurant food safety program or expert to train your staff.